The Mide'wiwin or "Grand Medicine Society" of the Ojibwa: Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1885-1886, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1891, pages 143-300Hoffman, Walter James
Religion
The Mide'wiwin or "Grand Medicine Society" of the Ojibwa: Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1885-1886, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1891, pages 143-300
Hoffman, Walter James
Midéwiwin; Ojibwa Indians -- Religion; Ojibwa Indians -- Rites and ceremonies; Ojibwa Indians -- Societies, etc.; Secret societies -- North America
The outline of a Midē´wigân as shown at No. 106, with the place upon the
interior designating the location of the sacred post (No. 107) and the
stone (No. 108) against which the sick are placed during the time of
treatment, signifies the owner to have practiced his calling of the
exorcism of demons. But that he also visited the sick beyond the
acknowledged jurisdiction of the society in which he resided, is
indicated by the path (No. 109) leading around the sacred inclosure.
Upon that portion of the chart immediately above the fourth degree lodge
is shown the outline of a Midē´wiwin (No. 110), with a path (No. 114),
leading toward the west to a circle (No. 111), within which is another
similar structure (No. 112) whose longest diameter is at right angles to
the path, signifying that it is built so that its entrance is at the
north. This is the Dzhibai´ Midē´wigân or Ghost Lodge.
Around the interior of the circle are small V-shaped characters denoting
the places occupied by the spirits of the departed, who are presided
over by the Dzhibai´ Midē´, literally Shadow Midē´.
No. 113 represents the Kŏ´-kó-kŏ-ō´ (Owl) passing from the Midē´wigân to
the Land of the Setting Sun, the place of the dead, upon the road of the
dead, indicated by the pathway at No. 114. This man´idō is personated by
a candidate for the first degree of the Midē´wiwin when giving a feast
to the dead in honor of the shadow of him who had been dedicated to the
Midē´wiwin and whose place is now to be taken by the giver of the feast.
Upon the back of the Midē´ record, above described, is the personal
record of the original owner, as shown in Pl. III B. Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4
represent the four degrees of the society into which he has been
initiated, or, to use the phraseology of an Ojibwa, “through which he
has gone.” This “passing through” is further illustrated by the bear
tracks, he having personated the Makwa´ Man´idō or Bear Spirit,
considered to be the highest and most powerful of the guardian spirits
of the fourth degree wigwam.
The illustration presented in Pl. III C represents the outlines of a
birch-bark record (reduced to one-third) found among the effects of a
lately deceased Midē´ from Leech Lake, Minnesota. This record, together
with a number of other curious articles, composed the outfit of the
Midē´, but the Rev. James A. Gilfillan of White Earth, through whose
courtesy I was permitted to examine the objects, could give me no
information concerning their use. Since that time, however, I have had
an opportunity of consulting with one of the chief priests of the Leech
Lake Society, through whom I have obtained some interesting data
concerning them.
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